THEY CAME BEFORE

COLUMBUS
GROUP MEMBERS:
DANIELLE LAZARUS
RENAE OSBOURNE
TAFADA WRIGHT
SHAKEEM MILLS
 OBJECTIVES
AT THE END OF THIS PRESENTATION STUDENTS SHOULD BE ABLE TO:
a) IDENTIFY WHO IVAN VAN SERTIMA WAS
b) TELL HOW THE AFRICANS CAME TO THE AMERICAS
c) STATE EVIDENCES THAT SHOW THE PRESENCE OF THE AFRICANS IN THE
AMERICAS.
 IVAN VAN SERTIMA

AFRICANS COLUMBUS

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

 WHO IS IVAN VAN SERTIMA
• IVAN VAN SERTIMA (1935-2009) WAS ONE AMONG MANY SCHOLARS WHO
CHALLENGED THE NOTION THAT COLUMBUS DISCOVERED THE
AMERICAS.
• DURING A BRIEF VISIT TO AMERICA HE CAME ACROSS THREE VOLUMES
WHICH CHANGED HIS VIEWS TOWARDS THE PRECONCEPTION THAT
COLUMBUS HAD ARRIVED IN THE CARIBBEAN BEFORE THE AFRICANS.
 HOW DID THE AFRICANS COME TO
THE AMERICAS
• IT IS BELIEVED THAT THE FIRST AFRICANS WHO CAME TO THE AMERICAS WANTED TO EXPLORE
THE ATLANTIC OCEAN AND TRADE WITH INDIGENOUS PEOPLE.
• IT IS ESTIMATED THAT THEY CAME SOME YEARS BEFORE COLUMBUS ARRIVED IN THE AMERICAS.
• IT IS ARGUED THAT THE AFRICANS THAT CAME TO THE AMERICAS WERE RESPECTED BY THE
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND WERE ABLE TO INTEGRATE INTO INDIGENOUS SOCIETY.
• THE EFFECT OF THIS IS THAT THEY WERE ABLE TO INFLUENCE THE CULTURAL, SOCIAL,
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE AMERICAS.
• ACCORDING TO THE IVAN SERTIMA THESIS, IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE FIRST GROUPS OF AFRICANS
TO ARRIVE IN THE AMERICAS WERE THE EGYPTIAN (751-656 B.C.E) AND THE MANDINGO PEOPLE
OF THE MALI EMPIRE (1310 AND 1311)
• IT IS SAID THAT THE ROUTE ACROSS THE BERING STRAIT LINKED SIBERIA AND MONGOLIA TO
ASIA AND CANADA IN NORTH AMERICA WHICH HOMOSAPIENS WERE SAID TO HAVE CROSSED.
“KENNEWICKMAN”.
 CONTINUING….
• LATER ADVANCES IN DNA STUDIES DURING THE LAST TWO DECADES HAS
REVEALED A MORE ASTONISHING CONNECTION AS THEY SHOW VERY
CONCLUSIVELY THAT THESE ASIANS (MONGOLIA), EUROPEANS AND PACIFIC
MIGRANTS THAT CAME INTO THE AMERICAS WERE THE DESCENDENTS OF
AFRICANS.
• THEIR MIGRATION HAD BEGAN MUCH EARLIER DURING THE COURSE OF THE
SERIES “OUT OF AFRICA”.
• WHEN THEIR DESCENDANTS MOVED, SKIN COLOUR AND OTHER CHANGES IN
PHYSICAL TRAITS OCCURRED. HENCE, WE SEE, NOT ONLY THAT POPULATION
MOVEMENT HAS BEEN COMMON FOR TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS, BUT
ALSO THAT “AFRICA” RESTS UNDER ALL OUR SKINS TODAY- ASIANS
(CHINESE & INDIANS), EUROPEANS AND AMERICANS.
 IVAN VAN SERTIMA THESIS
• BOATS WITH DATES OF 3,000 B.C.E HAVE BEEN FOUND IN THE GREAT PYRAMID IN
ANCIENT EGYPT
• SERTIMA BELIEVED THAT AFRICANS WERE INTO BOAT BUILDING FOR
COMMUNICATION WITH DIFFERENT ISLANDS THROUGH THE USE OF LAKE CHAD
FROM ABOUT ( 5,700 B.C.E).
• USING BOATS, ANCIENT EGYPTIANS AND OTHER AFRICANS TRAVERSED THE
ATLANTIC AND MAINTAINED CULTURAL LINKS WITH NEIGHBOURING CIVILIZATIONS
SUCH AS THE INDIANS AND THE CHINESE.
• PROFESSOR IVAN VAN SERTIMA ARGUES THAT IT WAS POSSIBLE THAT THE ANCIENT
EGYPTIANS OR NUBIANS CROSSED TO THE AMERICAS IN A FIRST MOVEMENT
BETWEEN 800-500 B.C.E. HE BELIEVED THAT THEY USED THEIR BOATS AND CERTAIN
NATURAL CURRENTS THAT LINK THE ATLANTIC COAST OF AFRICA TO MESOAMERICA
PERHAPS ACCIDENTALLY FIRST AND CONSCIOUSLY LATER.
 SECOND MIGRATION OF AFRICANS
INTO THE AMERICAS
• ACCORDING TO IVAN VAN SERTIMA A SECOND ARRIVAL OF AFRICANS IN THE SAME
MESOAMERICAN ERA TOOK PLACE IN AND AROUND THE LATE 13TH AND EARLY 14TH
CENTURIES ‘CE’ THESE AFRICAN VISITORS CAME FROM THE ANCIENT MALI EMPIRE.
THE ETHNIC GROUP ASSOCIATED WITH THE ANCIENT MALI EMPIRE WAS THE
MANDIGO.
• THERE IS ALSO FIRM HISTORICAL DATA THAT THE ANCIENT MALI EMPIRE WAS
INVOLVED IN TRANS-ATLANTIC EXPEDITIONS BETWEEN THE LATE 13TH AND EARLY
14TH CENTURIES.
• IT IS RECORDED THAT THERE WAS ONE SURVIVOR- A CAPTAIN- FROM THE FIRST
MALIAN EXPEDITION.
• ACCORDING TO VAN SERTIMA THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN MESOAMERICA IDENTIFIED
A MARITIME EMPEROR OF ANCIENT MALI (ABUBAKARI II) WITH THE MYTHICAL
FIGURE OF AN AZTEC GOD(QUETZALCOATL) AND LIFTED THE MALIAN’S TO KINGSHIP.
MOVING ON TO EVIDENCES THAT SHOWED
AFRICANS WERE PRESENT IN THE AMERICAS
BEFORE CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS…….
 EVIDENCE OF AFRICANS COMING
TO THE AMERICAS
• ACCORDING TO VAN SERTIMA, THE ‘EVIDENCE’ CONSISTS OF :
 SCULPTURES
 HE FOUND THE HEAD OF A NUBA CHIEF FROM SUDAN
 PRESENCE OF CULTS, ARTIFACT AND CEREMONIES FROM BOTH EGYPTIAN AND
MEXICAN ARCHEOLOGY
 THE INTRODUCTION OF NOTED FACETS OF EGYPTIAN AND THE NILE VALLEY
CIVILIZATION
 EGYPTIAN AND NUBIAN INFLUENCE ON MEXICO FOR ‘WHEELS’ TRANSPORT
 EVIDENCE FOR SECOND
MIGRATION
 THE DATA CAME FROM THE MOUTH OF KAN KAN MUSA EMPEROR OF THIS WEST
AFRICAN STATE (1324). EMPEROR MUSA TOLD HIS EGYPTIAN HOST THAT HIS
PREDECESSOR HAD DIED AT SEA. HE THEN STATED ‘FOR THIS KING WOULD NOT
LISTEN TO THOSE WHO TOLD HIM THAT IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO GET TO THE
OTHER SIDE OF THE SEA AND OBSTINATETLY PERSISTED IN HIS PURPOSE’
 THE SOURCE ABOUT MALIAN EXPEDITIONS INTO THE ATLANTIC IS STATED BY
AN ARAB HISTORIAN CALLED AL-UMARI WHOSE BOOK (DESCRIPTION OF
AFRICA EXCLUDING EGYPT) IS CONSIDERED A RELIABLE SOURCE BECAUSE HE
SERVED AS A SECRETARY TO THE COURT OF THE MUSLIM RULERS OF EGYPT
BETWEEN 1340 AND 1348. THIS MEANT HE HAD ACCESS TO ROYAL ARCHIEVES.
 VAN SERTIMA EXTENSIVELY DISCUSSES CULTURAL SIMILARITIES THAT ONE
CAN FIND BETWEEN WEST AFRICA AND MESOAMERICA.
NB. THE DATES PRESENTED (1300 ETC)
GIVES CLEAR PROOF THAT THE
AFRICANS(EGYPTIANS/NUBIANS)HAD
TRAVELED TO THE AMERICAS BEFORE
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
• THIS IS THE END OF OUR
PRESENTATION GUYS THANK YOU ALL
FOR LISTENING AND ALL THAT.
BYEEEEEEEEEEEEE